Marketing attribution is a mess.
How did it get so bad?
A five-part blog series, diving into marketing attribution across all of its iterations.
Under construction for the Channel99 blog.
Part One: How did it get so bad?
Somewhere along the way, attribution became less of a decision-making tool and more of a battleground. Instead of aligning teams, it drove them apart. Instead of improving marketing’s standing, it invited scrutiny. And instead of helping us make better decisions, it led to even more confusion about what’s actually moving the needle.
Marketing attribution is a mess.
Part Two: First touch
Marketing teams love a clear origin story.
First-touch attribution isn’t flawed. It’s just incomplete. It helps answer a very specific question: how are people finding us? But if you try to use it to explain why they bought, you’re asking too much. It’s still useful. Especially for campaign testing, early-stage programs, and channel discovery. But it should be a starting point, not a final answer.
The pros and cons of
first-touch attribution
Part Three: Last touch
Last-touch attribution may represent the “final straw,” but there were a lot of straws on that camel’s back.
